Why Hishtadlus?
One of the first things that we learned last year when the chabura started learning Emunah u-Bitachon Chazon Ish, is that the Chazon Ish defined bitachon differently than almost anyone else discussing bitachon and in doing so, made bitachon within reach of even those who were not on the highest rungs of emunah. The Chazon Ish held that bitachon at its core, is the idea that nothing happens by chance and everything that happens is all by decree from HaShem. Further, the Chazon Ish writes, emunah (conviction) and bitachon (reliance) are two sides of the same coin. The Chazon Ish describes bitachon as Emunah in Action or Active Emunah (peulas ha-emunah), the emunah referred to, is that there is divine providence over all that occurs (hashgacha pratis). Chazon Ish continued to develop this principle with an analogy to the halakhic realm where we encounter the idea of halakha l’maaseh; emunah can be viewed as the Halakha, while bitachon would be the l’maaseh.
In connection with this, the point was made that there is at least a strong possibility that the Chazon Ish’s idea of what bitachon is (and what bitachon is not) was formed from the premise that emunah and bitachon could not be out of reach of the common man. The Chazon Ish felt that with few exceptions people who observed Torah and Mitzvos, possessed bitachon at least to some degree, however small. This premise rang true to people in the chabura on an intuitive level, with some going so far as to say that this is axiomatic in approaching Torah and Mitzvos.
It was pointed out that this approach to bitachon opened up the study of bitachon and “working” on bitachon to a much larger segment of people, who might otherwise have felt that living with bitachon was something that was beyond them and therefore they never even tried.
Sefer Ben Melech by reshaping our understanding of hishtadlus makes hishtadlus accessible and attainable for a much broader segment of those striving to be good Jews and serve Hashem to the best of their abilities. As long as people commonly have this idea think that hishtadlus is a bad thing to be avoided or at best a b’dieved that should be minimized to the greatest degree possible, the likelihood that people would study it (hishtadlus) and try to apply it to their lives was small. Perhaps an even better way to view it, would be:
By redefining bitachon, the Chazon Ish made bitachon into something that people could intuitively relate to. So too, we find that Sefer Ben Melech is casting hishtadlus in a way that isn't out of sync with the reality that most of us live with and by doing so, R Leib Mintzberg makes hishtadlus something that we can also intuitively relate to and contemplate bringing into their lives.
One of the first things that we learned last year when the chabura started learning Emunah u-Bitachon Chazon Ish, is that the Chazon Ish defined bitachon differently than almost anyone else discussing bitachon and in doing so, made bitachon within reach of even those who were not on the highest rungs of emunah. The Chazon Ish held that bitachon at its core, is the idea that nothing happens by chance and everything that happens is all by decree from HaShem. Further, the Chazon Ish writes, emunah (conviction) and bitachon (reliance) are two sides of the same coin. The Chazon Ish describes bitachon as Emunah in Action or Active Emunah (peulas ha-emunah), the emunah referred to, is that there is divine providence over all that occurs (hashgacha pratis). Chazon Ish continued to develop this principle with an analogy to the halakhic realm where we encounter the idea of halakha l’maaseh; emunah can be viewed as the Halakha, while bitachon would be the l’maaseh.
In connection with this, the point was made that there is at least a strong possibility that the Chazon Ish’s idea of what bitachon is (and what bitachon is not) was formed from the premise that emunah and bitachon could not be out of reach of the common man. The Chazon Ish felt that with few exceptions people who observed Torah and Mitzvos, possessed bitachon at least to some degree, however small. This premise rang true to people in the chabura on an intuitive level, with some going so far as to say that this is axiomatic in approaching Torah and Mitzvos.
It was pointed out that this approach to bitachon opened up the study of bitachon and “working” on bitachon to a much larger segment of people, who might otherwise have felt that living with bitachon was something that was beyond them and therefore they never even tried.
Sefer Ben Melech by reshaping our understanding of hishtadlus makes hishtadlus accessible and attainable for a much broader segment of those striving to be good Jews and serve Hashem to the best of their abilities. As long as people commonly have this idea think that hishtadlus is a bad thing to be avoided or at best a b’dieved that should be minimized to the greatest degree possible, the likelihood that people would study it (hishtadlus) and try to apply it to their lives was small. Perhaps an even better way to view it, would be:
By redefining bitachon, the Chazon Ish made bitachon into something that people could intuitively relate to. So too, we find that Sefer Ben Melech is casting hishtadlus in a way that isn't out of sync with the reality that most of us live with and by doing so, R Leib Mintzberg makes hishtadlus something that we can also intuitively relate to and contemplate bringing into their lives.
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